PROJECT ABSTRACT This NIH R13 application requests partial support for the 4th International Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Conference on Retinoids to be held at The Steamboat Grand, Steamboat Springs, CO on June 10-15, 2018. This biennial research conference has been very well attended (ranging from 100 to 200 attendees over the past 30 years) and remains the sole major national and international conference that addresses the full spectrum of retinoid biology. While the mechanisms of action and the biological functions of retinoids have been intensively studied, there is an increasing need for understanding and applying retinoids in human nutrition and diseases. Currently, a great deal of ongoing research activity is supported by the NIH (the NIH RePORT database indicates that there are currently 1948 NIH funded individual research grants involving aspects of retinoid/vitamin A biology). The 2018 conference will begin with a timely ?Round Table? panel providing a holistic and historical view by several senior investigators in the field. This will be followed by 9 symposia, 4 poster sessions, and one ?Poster Award? session. A major goal is to foster the exchange of cutting-edge research findings. The main topics to be addressed include both basic and translational fronts of retinoid biology: Carotenoid and Retinoid Metabolism and Signaling (1 & 2); Retinoid Receptors (3); Retinoids and Disease - Metabolic diseases (4), Immunology (5), and Cancer (6); Retinoid system biology (7); Retinoid molecular therapeutics (7 & 8); Retinoids and development (9). The overall goal is to bring together a group of committed investigators (senior scientists, mid-career scientists, junior scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students), who work in diverse disciplines (as biochemists, molecular biologists, nutritional scientists, cancer researchers, vision researchers, stem cell biologists, biophysicists, structural biologists, immunologists, chemists, and clinicians) to present and discuss their latest research findings that share a common focus on the retinoids. To encourage new/young investigators and trainees to attend this meeting, we plan to offer numerous training sessions and workshops (?Meet the Speaker? round table at lunch and mentoring sessions with members of editorial boards and study sections during dinners; Training Workshop: ?Path to Independence? with leaders from academia, and industry; and ?Meet the Expert? with NIH Staff). To increase visibility of trainees through oral presentations, we plan Capsule Reports based on their posters (eight 5-min talks on Days 2 and 3). This meeting has been strongly supported by NIDDK and by other Institutes in the past. The 2018 Retinoid Conference will allow young investigators and trainees to obtain much needed updates on the current state of the various branches of the field and will most certainly stimulate their careers as well as collaborations with basic scientists and clinicians. We respectfully request partial support for the 2016 FASEB Retinoid Conference to increase the attendance by the female investigators, young investigators and trainees.